An anthology including both 'portal fantasies', a la through the wardrobe into Narnia, and 'parallel worlds' stories inspired by quantum physics. Consistent high quality across the collection is impressive.
MVP is Kelly Link's "Magic For Beginners", an exceptionally well crafted long story that's about stories in a way that's meaningful, fresh and emotionally resonant - not to mention magical, with a strong undercurrent of threat and the sinister. (good analysis here)
There are a lot of clever stories here, many of them unpredictable and satisfying in their reversals and landings, and it was nice how many of them ended with versions of a happy ending (or at least not a specifically dark one). Over and above that, a few that felt to me like they had some of the real stuff: Seanan McGuire, "Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage"; Pat Cadigan, "Nothing Personal" (one of the only ones that made me wish I could read more about its characters, weary detective Ruby Tsang and interdimensional interloper Rafe Pasco); Joyce Carol Oates, "The Rose Wall"; Paul Melko, "Ten Sigmas" (not actually that profound but just so well done with its repeated splitting-offs to follow diminishing numbers of possible selves as their probabilities diminish through the choices they make in attempting to save the girl), Yoon Ha Le, "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain".
